Read more carefully at what I said. Water primarily cools cylinder walls, head and block. I specifically stated the rings provide no meaningful thermal transfer. Pistons are cooled by a combo action of oil cooling and fuel/air cooling. Its right in my post above. Sorry if it wasn't written clearly.
Lower thermostats work just fine as long as your radiator has excess capacity. If your 180f normally runs wide open then you likely don't have any excess capacity to regulate a lower temp. But pp radiators have about 20-25% more cooling capacity than a base model radiator. So keep in mind context before making a blanket statement that they don't do anything.Well, before this thread goes totally sideways or gets sucked into a black hole from all the "Quote" button abuse...
No, 93 isn't 93, and hasn't been for YEARS...
Since the "Tiers" of fuel went away and gas stations started getting gas from generic refineries, Ethanol - which was previously reserved for 85 and 87 octane only - has made its way into ALL pump gas. What was once reserved for the 14.63:1 Stoich purists, 93 is now relegated to the depths of the "lowly" 14.03:1 OR LESS crowd. To make matters worse, what is now 87 Octane Gasoline is actually 85 Gasoline with 10% Ethanol added. The octane value is obtained by adding Ethanol - There are subsidies for Ethanol, so there is a profit motive.
While AFR doesn't affect Octane ratings per se, it does change the engines needs. The difference between 14.63 and 14.03:1 AFR is almost -.5 on the "Apparent Octane Number", so 93 ACTUAL GASOLINE octane in a car with 10% Ethanol becomes 92.5 Octane based on the ARF change alone. Since we now know that this 93 octane fuel is actually 91 with 10% ethanol added, it gets worse and we haven't even figured in the quality/reporting issues...
In the US, Octane has changed to AKI (R+M)/2) instead of the higher MON rating of old. What used to be 87 Octane (MON) is now 93 Octane AKI (R+M)/2). The Original Sunoco 100 Octane Pump Gas would now be labeled as 110 AKI or 110 Octane (R+M)/2). In the 50's and up to the 1970's, there was "Ethyl", short for the "secret" ingredient "Tetra Ethyl Lead (TEL)" - but that's another story...
Fuel quality takes another hit as very few service stations run filters or fuel water separators since they require regular maintenance - something that disappeared when "Self-Service" became the rage.
So, Octane ratings are BS. What used to be a bragging point in the octane wars of old is merely a "guide" today. And we haven't even touched on MTBE or other "Oxygenators" that are added to "reduce pollution".
TheLion - The items you list are all great for reducing LSPI, to include low Calcium oils and Water/Meth injection with the exception of the 160°f thermostat. Unless the fan turn on/off points are altered in the tune, the thermostat change is a waste of time, money and effort - But I'm sure you worked with your tuner on that...
Are you using an aftermarket oil temp gauge? Oil Temp is inferred on our vehicles since there is no sensor, it apparently uses the oil pressure and RPMs - much like there is no CHT sensor, so it is based on Water Temp and other stuff.
I'm headed down the same path as you - Increase performance through reliability mods and do everything possible to reduce LSPI.
Keep fighting the good fight Brother!
